There was an air of optimism, a thick ray of gleaming hope and a smorgasbord of England’s burnished young sensations on offering as a raucous Stade Velodrome gave the impression of a packed Wembley belting out the English National Anthem back in the days of Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne, Tony Adams and company’s heyday. It felt like the night was going to be England’s, that the whole of France was to be set alight by a shrill roar of Roy Hodgson’s Galacticos, which did happen as it later turned out to be, but sadly, for only a brief period of time. Just as it seemed that Eric Dier had finally begotten the perfect outro to England’s first-half melody, the outro that no English team previously came up with, a Russian Concertmaster Vasili Berezutski ruined it all with his own version, the version we have been familiar with, the very version that has dejection written all over it.
England’s failure to convert their first-half onslaught wasn’t just a mere result of their poor luck, but a reflection of the brobdingnagian gulf of class that separates them from winners like Germany, Spain and France when it comes to making the most of what you have. Even with all guns blazing, if Hodgson’s side couldn’t beat an average Russian team, you can’t complain that the draw was undeserved or unfair, it was pretty much what a wasteful performance was worthy of. People may snivel, and be mumpish about a late equaliser that denied an apparently deserved victory, but the fact is that the Three Lions were simply destitute of a clinical edge, of the sharpness to kill the game and rich in profligacy.
England played with the flair of a champion but the edge (of any description) of a helpless underdog. They were a delight to watch in the first half, stitching one pass after another together seamlessly, while the movement on and off the ball was equally pleasing, but what use is all the vibrance if you can’t make it count? Arsenal, for example, play the best Football in England, despite which, they have consistently failed to win a league title for 11 years. Reason? Their inability to make the most of their chances, tactical blunders and defensive insecurities, something that has been heavily criticised for years.
England looked like an international Arsenal against Russia. Everything was good about them, except the bit that mattered the most since Roy Hodgson overslaughed his most potent goalscorers and made the only striker take corners, the striker who should have been inside the box trying to take advantage of his physicality. Thing is, if you have been set up to maximise your attacking potential, yet fail to do it, you’ll only end up trying to desperately take out positives from a game you “think” you should have won but you didn’t.
Roy Hodgson has to realise that playing Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana as two of the three forwards won’t simply work if England are to lay the foundations of their team on the bricks of an attacking brand. A switch to 4-4-2 so as to fit another striker and Jack Wilshere in is definitely an option (considering how many times did England give the ball away against Russia) for more creativity and better options up top. The sooner the change, the better it will be.
Come the next game against Wales, if this incomplete English melody isn’t prepared the decisive fioritura to, the UEFA Euro 2016 would end up as another occasion when the orgulous English flunked the biggest test again.
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